In this digital era, more than ever before, we are seeing a rapid increase in Cybercrime that has resulted in devastating consequences. Consider the recent Optus and Medibank cyber-attacks, which saw hundreds of thousands of people’s personal information released to the dark web as part of a sophisticated Cyber ransom.
“No one is safe from these anonymous criminals sitting behind their computers and using sophisticated technology that allows them to commit a range of Cyber related crimes including extortion, theft and fraud all via the web and undetectable until it’s too late,” says Ben Hastie, Managing Director of Resilium Insurance Broking.
According to the Australian Cyber Security Centre, led by the Australian Government, a cybercrime is now reported every seven minutes and costs the Australian economy up to $29 billion annually in direct costs alone! This is up 50% on the year prior, showing just how much Cyber crime is on the increase.
“Businesses can no longer afford to be complacent about their Cyber safety, which is why many are seeing many adding Cyber to their overall insurance risk profile or increasing their existing Cyber insurance cover,” explains Ben.
The average time it takes to resolve a Cyber breach can be anywhere between 23 days and never! That’s a minimum of 23 days that a business may be potentially frozen from conducting any operations, or worse, not being able to get access back to their business systems at all!
Of those businesses that are hit with a Cyber breach, more than half of them will have to close their doors permanently within six months as a direct result.
“Business owners need to consider the damaging consequences of a Cyber-attack and whether they could actually cope with the ensuing potential revenue loss, lost customers, brand damage, critical data lost and more, all the while still having to paying staff and other bills.”
What are some of the most common Cyber-attacks?
1. If a Cyber-attack is a Malware breach, it can cause damage to an entire computer network via ‘worms’ viruses or trojans… leaving the computer and the whole network inoperable as the hacker controls the system remotely.
2. If a Cyber-attack is a Ransomware breach, this is a type of malware that encrypts a victim’s files and sees the Cyber attacker demanding a ransom to restore access – usually in payment via untraceable Cryptocurrency.
3. Phishing is one of the oldest types of cyberattacks and it’s still one of the most destructive. It tricks email recipients into believing that the message is something important and from a real provider like a bank or a notice to update Office 365 for example.
4. Denial of service is a type of Cyber-attack is an attempt to make an online service unavailable by overwhelming it with traffic, by compromising systems to flood sites causing the website or server to slow down or crash.
Things you can do to protect yourself and be prepared for a Cyber-attack.
1. Consider using extra security measures like multi-factor ID authentication for portable devices like laptops, iPhones and iPads.
2. Conduct ‘safe web browsing’ – do not click on things that look legitimate. Always check the URL and whether it is from a trusted sender.
3. Email security is vital – Do not use your personal email for work purposes, never open attachments on unfamiliar emails, do not click on any suspicious links within emails and consider the email itself as to whether the links look strange or there are spelling/grammatical errors.
4. Password protection – Avoid common passwords which include seasons, city names, pet names, family names. Consider using full sentence passphrases with numbers or symbols (i.e., WelcomeToSharePoint2018!)
5. Lock up important business materials – Do not leave papers, computers or other electronic devices visible in an empty car or house.
6. Shred sensitive paper records before disposing of them – Cyber criminals have been known to go through people’s bins to find personal data and use it for Cybercrime.
7. Cyber insurance – Talk to a Provident Insutrance Adviser about your Cyber risk profile and how you can be protected.
How Provident Insurance Services can help
Prevention is the best vehicle for defence against cybercrime. Make sure you are up to speed with the latest online fraud techniques, so you don’t become a victim. Your Provident Insurance adviser will be able to help assess and outline the risks and vulnerabilities your organisation might face from a Cybercrime perspective.
The information provided in this article is of a general nature only and has been prepared without considering your individual objectives, financial situation or needs. If you require advice that is tailored to your specific business or individual circumstances, please contact Provident Insurance Services directly.